More education needed about cancer

According to the results of a national study, around a quarter of cancers are found only when a patient arrives at hospital because of an emergency.

The study, by the National Cancer Intelligence Network (NCIN), examined information from cancers detected in 2007 and found 23% were diagnosed at the emergency stage.

In brain cancer and acute leukaemia cases, 50% were only discovered at a very late stage.

Cancer Research UK called for more education to be made available in order to help people to spot symptoms of the disease.

The report found that patients diagnosed at an emergency stage had more likelihood of dying within a year than people diagnosed earlier.

The study found that poorer people, the elderly and those aged under 25 years of age had the highest chance of being diagnosed as an emergency case.

The research showed only 3% of skin cancer were diagnosed very late, in comparison to 58% of brain cancers.

Harpal Kumar, the chief executive of Cancer Research UK, told the Daily Telegraph: "The figure for diagnoses via emergency presentations is way too high. This statistic helps explain why we have lower survival rates than we would hope to have, lower than the best countries in Europe."

"We need screening programmes to be rolled out as early as possible and GPs given rapid access to the tests that will enable patients to be moved quickly through the system."